Fall is the Best Time to Donate to Goodwill

Why Fall is the Best Time to Donate to Goodwill

There are many great times and reasons to make furniture or clothing donations to MERS Goodwill. You may be asking yourself, “why donate now instead of later?” or “why donate at one time of year instead of another?”. While any time of year is a great time to give to thrift stores and programs that help those in need, there is something to be said for waiting until fall to deliver items to Goodwill. Not only is it a season of change – with kids going back to school and warmer weather leaving for the year – it’s right before the big holiday season. Your schedule will already be packed with events, family time, and vacations. You won’t want to deal with donations later on. Fall is the best time to get them done. If you are still wondering why donate in the fall – when you could donate just about anytime during the year – here are a few more reasons to consider.

Women donates fall blanket

Summer Garage Sale Season is Over

If you have been holding garage sales during the summer to get rid of unwanted items, you may not be looking forward to fall when garage sales are more challenging to hold, and fewer people are looking to shop at them. But do you want to pack up any unsold items and store them for the next summer? You’ll have to give up space in your garage, attic, or closets to do so. And the following summer, you may want to focus on other projects around your house. Instead of dealing with the hassle of packing everything back up for another garage sale season, you should donate the leftover items to Goodwill instead. That way, you know they are going toward a good cause, and you won’t have to worry about dealing with them again in the future.

Kids Are Going Back to School

Not everyone can afford to buy a new wardrobe for their kids every year when school starts up. Instead of shopping at the mall for shirts and pants and dresses, they’ll head to thrift stores to hopefully find gently used clothing items that will suit their needs instead. But for thrift stores such as Goodwill to have a good selection of children’s clothing, someone has to donate to them. Clothing donations in St. Louis are essential to making sure that all children returning to school have a proper wardrobe.

Even if you have the money to buy your children new clothes every year, you may not want to spend that much on things they will grow out of within a few months. You may also want to take advantage of clothing donations in St. Louis and hit up the Goodwill for school clothes. It’s vital that everyone who can donate quality items so that families around the area can benefit.

The Weather is Starting to Get Colder

When it’s 50 degrees outside, do you still need all two dozen pairs of shorts you’ve accumulated over the summer? Especially if you aren’t sure, you’ll wear them all again? If you are wondering why donate in the fall, there is a great reason right there. Fall is the time to let go of your summer clothes to make room for warmer items that will suit better during the colder months of the year. Sure some people pack up their summer clothes with the intent to get them out again the next time warm weather rolls around. But many times you’ll forget what you had in your summer wardrobe and buy new things anyway. Why not make clothing donations in St. Louis in the fall with items you probably will want to replace?

You’ll have an excellent opportunity to look for winter clothing at the time you donate, as well. Most Goodwill locations have a store attached to their donation area. You can drop off the items you are getting rid of, then walk over to the store and begin your shopping. It’s a great way to multi-task! You may even receive a discount coupon from your donation that you can use right away if you go shopping at the same time.

Kids Will Grow Before Next Summer

Kids grow. That is a fact. And because they grow, their clothing needs to be replaced regularly. Sometimes it has to be replaced faster than they can wear it out. Just because your kids fit all of their summer clothes this year doesn’t mean they’ll still be able to wear them next year. So when the weather starts to cool and you are ready to pack up your kids’ summer clothing, consider making clothing donations in St. Louis instead.

Why donate when you could sell?

Maybe at a garage sale or through online classifieds? The reality is donating helps you declutter and helps other people, and is an excellent thing for your family as well as your community. Sure, if you sell old clothing, you could get a few dollars in your pocket. But if you donate, you’ll have the knowledge you did a good thing and a receipt that will lead toward tax deductions when you file in the new year.

New Fashions Are Available

Why donate to Goodwill in the fall? Because it gives you a great excuse to clear out your out-of-date and out-of-fashion items. Then you’ll have room in your drawers and closets to stock up on all of the latest brands and styles. While there are articles of clothing that are always in style – like little black dresses – others are only in fashion for a short time. If you looked through all of the clothing donations in St. Louis each year, you’d probably find lots of items that were very “in” for a while but didn’t stay “in” very long. If it matters to you that your wardrobe remains new and fresh and fashionable, you’ll want to pull out old items regularly and donate them, so you have room for new things. Fashion Week is held every year in the fall, and so new fashions become available in the fall. Why donate in the fall? Because that’s when fashionistas will be able to get their new, exciting items.

Clean Out Closets Before the Holidays

Clothing donations in St. Louis tend to be at a high during the fall when people are clearing out their guest rooms, closets, and storage rooms in preparation for the holidays. When you have family and friends over, you, want to focus on making them comfortable. That means you don’t want to dig through your hall closet to find room to hang their coats or tear through the attic trying to find sleeping bags and extra blankets amidst piles of other stuff. If you make your household items and clothing donations in St. Louis in the fall, you’ll know that things will be easier to deal with during the holidays.

You may also want to get new items specifically for holiday entertaining. Dishes, cookware, and serving dishes all require places to put them. If your cupboards are full of old items that you don’t use anymore, you should donate those things to Goodwill to make room for the new items you want instead. There’s no need to double up on things, especially if you probably won’t use the older items. Take them up to Goodwill and get rid of them before you begin your shopping for new holiday items.

Speaking of Holidays

You’ll want space for new things around Christmas-time. So why donate in the fall? Because winter is just around the corner and you’ll want to spend that time celebrating with friends and family during the holidays. You won’t want to spend the holidays cleaning out dressers and finding room for decorations, presents, and other holiday-related items. If you know you’ll be getting big things for Christmas, such as furniture or large electronics, you should clear out the places needed for those well beforehand. You won’t want to be moving a couch or a computer station around on Christmas Day. If you make your furniture and clothing donations in St. Louis in the fall, you’ll have no problem when the time comes to use the space you’ve cleared out.

Get Ready for a New Year

There’s nothing like starting a new year off on the right foot. Besides making resolutions like going to the gym more, eating healthier, and seeing your family regularly, you should consider getting your house ready for the new year by cleaning out old and unwanted items. This might be hard to do in November or December with all of the holiday stuff happening, so fall is the perfect time to get started on this project. Go through your house room by room and pull out all of the things that you don’t need anymore. Throw away trash and donate clothes and household items that someone else could use.

Nearing Tax Season

Many people ask themselves, “why donate when I could just throw away”? If you are a fan of tax deductions, then you’ll want to look into clothing donations in St. Louis, as well as donations of other items. Goodwill offers donation receipts for all the things that you give to them. You can itemize or fill them out with general information. When tax season rolls around, you can hand the receipts over to your accountant so they can make sure you get all of the deductions you are owed. It’s best to get the donations taken care of in the fall before the holiday season comes around, and then the beginning of a new year, which can be much busier. Fall is also closer to tax season, so you are less likely to lose or forget about your donation receipts, as you might if you make your donations in the summer.

New Year, New You

The beginning of a new year is a great time to work on new elements in your life. Maybe you want to move to a new city or a new house in your current city. Perhaps you want to redecorate your home or at least change up how you have rooms designated. Any of these projects will require that you get rid of items you don’t have a use for or space for anymore. So why donate before the beginning of the year? Because you are ready for something new, and you’ll need to clear out the old to make that happen. If you donate things in the fall well before the new year, you won’t have to worry about dealing with them when you begin working on your “new year, new you” projects.

Any Season is a Good Season to Give

Who needs to wait until a specific season to give to Goodwill? Donating to them provides not only items for sale in their stores, but jobs for the people they employ that are getting back on their feet. Anytime you are cleaning out your house, redecorating, moving, or having a garage sale; you should consider donating to Goodwill. Those are the times that you are looking at and evaluating items and clothing that are in your home. So it’s the perfect time to decide if you need and want them, or if you are holding on to them because you aren’t sure what to do with them. Whether it’s fall, winter, spring, or summer, you should consider donating when your house is full, and you know you have items to give.

There are no hard and fast rules about when you should donate items to your local charitable thrift stores. But fall is an excellent time of year to get into the habit of doing so. Fall is the time that shoppers are looking for clothing and household goods to get ready for winter. And fall is the time before the holidays and new year when you’ll most likely have time to gather items for donation. Donating to help others is a beautiful thing you can do for your community as well as yourself. Fall happens to be a perfect time for you to give back to places like Goodwill and for the people they help. So make it a yearly tradition to gather furniture, clothing, and household items you don’t want or need anymore and take them up to your closest Goodwill at the beginning of fall. Those that benefit from the Goodwill programs will be grateful, and you’ll know that you did something great for other people.